European Railroad Discussion > More from South Wales

On Sunday April 23rd I had to go to Newport Wetlands Centre to stock up on sunflower hearts (for our birds feeders). I stopped off on my way down and on my way back and was rewarded by

1: 60100 passing Gaer Junction (just west of Newport station) on the 6H25, one of the regular Margam to Llanwern loaded steel workings

2: On my way home by now the sun was out so I stopped at East Usk for 66128, in new DBC livery, on the 6M30 Margam to Dee Marsh, which stops at Llanwern on most Sunday's to pick up additional loaded steel carriers. Dee Marsh is the yard for the steelworks at Shotton on Deeside in NE Wales.

3: I didn't go straight home as the 4V38 Daventry to Wentloog 'Tesco Express' intermodal was diverted via Crewe and the Marches Line. Not wholly unusual but definitely worth a picture, here at Pontrilas

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4: On Monday April 24th I went down to Gaer Junction, Newport in the evening for a couple of trains I'd not seen before, at least not in South Wales. Firstly one of the rare wagonload workings, 6A29 from Newport's Alexandra Dock Junction Yard to Didcot. the box cars up front are carrying Ford components from the Bridgend factory whilst the 1TEU boxes are carrying industrial cleansers from Barry to Southampton

5: The 6V47 Tilbury to Trostre are the empties of a twice weekly shipment of export tinplate from the steelworks at Trostre near Llanelli in West Wales to the port of Tilbury (east of London). I used to see this on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line in the late morning, its early evening by the time it reaches South Wales (and we've not seen the last of it either).

6: The following morning I headed west for my first look at what is known as the Swansea District Line. One of the last mainline railways built in Britain, it opened in 1910 providing the GWR with a by pass around the city of Swansea for the new direct passenger services from London to the port of Fishguard where passengers boarded the ferry for Rosslare in Ireland. This crossing had recently been upgraded with GWR money, on both sides of the Irish Sea, in an attempt to compete with the long established LNWR Holyhead to Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) by providing a quicker route to Cork, Killarney and the South West of Ireland. Today it is still used by the boat trains, in reality a single class 150 DMU which connects with the morning arrival from Rosslare and in the other directions provides a connection with the afternoon sailing to Rosslare. It is also used by trains carrying steel from Margam Yard to Trostre steelworks for tinplating, 60066 is approaching Lonlas Tunnel on the morning 6B03 from Trostre.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/17 12:12 by 86235.

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7: And here's that 6V47 again. Having recessed at Margam overnight it completes its journey to Trostre on Tuesday in readiness to leave on Wednesday evening for its scheduled Thursday delivery to Tilbury. The signalbox once controlled access to the oil refinery at Llandarcy, Britain's first, opening in 1922 and closing in 1998.

8: On my way home I stopped off at Duffryn, just west of Newport for a nice sunlit 60100 on empty steel coil carriers from Llanwern to Margam

9: On Wednesday April 26th I again ventured westwards, this time to a lonely spot in the hills above the Vale of Neath, Onllwyn Coal Washery. Four or five days a week there's a train of locally mined coal which is taken to Onllwyn for washing and sorting (our solid fuel central heating system at home burns Welsh anthracite). Knowing how unreliable departure times are with these sorts of trains, they often leave hours early I got to Onllwyn nice and early. It was cold with the odd flurry of sleet. 66133 with its train of two axle MEA wagons, they are being unloaded by mechanical grab.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/17 12:14 by 86235.

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10: When the empties eventually got going (as expected they ran early!) there was a surprise on the back end, a trio of container flats each with a pair of 1TEU coal carrying containers bound for Scotland.

11: The train has to stop before it sets off to await the return of the token for the single track section to Neath & Brecon Junction near Neath. the token is used by the ground staff to unlock the catch point after the train has left. After about five minutes a white van pulls up and the van driver passes the token to the locomotive driver, and off they both go their own separate ways! I would have liked a shot at Neath & Brecon Junction, which has a set of semaphores but unfortunately it's not possible to chase the train. The road follows the railway but through a succession of villages with 20 & 30 mph speed limits

12: Last (but not least) from April is the appearance of a pair of 56s on the Marches Line, first time a 56 (let alone two) has been this way for a couple of years. It's in connection with a new (but irregular) flow of high grade roadstone for non-slip surfaces which loads at Neath Abbey Wharf and unloads at Leeds in Northern England. These are the empties returning via the Marches Line on Thursday 27th.

More pictures are here, including a brief visit to the Swanage Railway (a heritage operation in Southern England) and Southampton over the May Day bank holiday https://nick86235.smugmug.com/Trains/2017/Spring-arrives-March-April-May-2017/i-gPpVLNs

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All are excellently composed. Especially like Class 66 photos.
ALLEN

Thanks Allen

Great photos.

Do the Class 60 locomotives still retain their Mirrlees engines? I ask because I was part of an EMD team that inspected a few for the purpose of engineering a replacement with an EMD 710 engine. I don't remember the date but it was around 2004 I think. I retired not long after and never heard anymore about the project.

Dave

Thanks Dave. When it came to it EWS upgraded the Mirrlees prime movers rather than replacing them, so the 60s still growl rather than ying like the 66s.

Thanks Nik, a great selection of photos, and good to see all this freight. Nice to see the steel industry is still healthy down there. Those 56s have evaded me here in Yorkshire!! Chris uk.